Spain’s World Cup Coach Says Economic Slump Helps Soccer Team

Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Spain’s World Cup-winning coach
Vicente del Bosque says the country’s economic slump is good
news for the national team.

A day after parliament approved a motion to pressure cash-strapped soccer clubs into paying some $800 million in back
taxes, Del Bosque said financial strife will force teams to
develop players instead of signing them.

Spending on transfer fees in the Spanish league plummeted
by 45 percent to 262 million euros ($351 million) in the last
offseason, according to a report published Sept. 9 by Barcelona-based Prime Time Sports.

“There’s more backing for youth team training in times of
crisis,” Del Bosque told reporters in Madrid today. The
economic situation in Spain “isn’t a problem” for player
development, he said.

Del Bosque led Spain to its first World Cup title in South
Africa in July, two years after it won the European Championship
for the first time since 1964.

As Spain emerges from two years of recession, Prime
Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is cutting spending and
increasing retirement ages to slash the euro region’s third-largest deficit.

Spanish clubs owed 627 million euros in taxes between them
in 2008 according to the latest available figures.

The teams are continuing to put off tax payments as they
spend on transfer fees and player salaries and bonuses,
according to Francisco Jorquera, the Galician party’s
parliamentary spokesman who presented yesterday’s motion.

“There’s a dynamic in soccer that’s totally irrational and
it contaminates the public sector,” Jorquera said in a
telephone interview.